Navigate quickly
Howard Johnson
Howard Johnson International, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company owned by Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, a Delaware corporation. "Howard Johnson Inns" are primarily smaller, low-rise Chain facilities that feature contemporary interior and exterior design, mid-market level furnishings, a swimming pool, and a small meeting room. If the facility does not have a full service restaurant, it must offer guests a free, deluxe continental breakfast. "Howard Johnson Plaza Hotels" are mid-rise or high-rise full service facilities, positioned at the upper end of the Howard Johnson brand. They feature contemporary furnishings and have superior curb appeal. They also provide extensive banquet facilities, bell and room service, a swimming pool and express check-out. Many also offer exercise rooms with fitness equipment.
Facts & figures
With a loan of $500, Howard Dearing Johnson purchased a small patent medicine shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1925. He used an old-fashioned, hand-cranked freezer in the store's basement to make vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream for the shop's soda fountain. Three years later, with menu additions like hot dogs and hamburgers, he opened the first Howard Johnson's Restaurant. By 1935, there were 25 Howard Johnson ice cream and sandwich stands in Massachusetts. Five years later, with more than 100 restaurants on the Atlantic Coast, Johnson opened the first turnpike restaurant on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In 1954, when the company operated 400 restaurants, the first Howard Johnson hotel opened in Savannah, Georgia. After Johnson's son took over the company in 1959, it was subsequently acquired by three different companies before Cendant Corp. bought the hotel chain in 1990. Howard Johnson Int'l. franchises offer mid-priced lodging at Howard Johnson Plaza Hotels, Howard Johnson Hotels, Howard Johnson Inns and Howard Johnson Express Inns. Children stay free at Howard Johnson, and Road Rally and AARP offer senior discounts at the hotels.
Connect With Us
